NFL Rankings - 20 Dec

It was one of the craziest weeks in recent memory, as undefeated Green Bay lost to a horrible Chiefs team, winless Indianapolis beat up on a decent Titans team, and the 49ers-Steelers game was delayed twice by power outages. The result is that Green Bay is no longer the absolute #1 team in the league, which means that several other teams had a chance to make a case for the top spot, and a few stood out. Here are the updated rankings, with gaps between groups of teams representing different levels of performance.

TW. Team (Record) Rating (LW)
1. Green Bay (13-1) -10.13 (1)
2. San Francisco (11-3) -9.48 (7)
3. New England (11-3) -9.13 (5)
4. New Orleans (11-3) -9.04 (2)

5. Baltimore (10-4) -5.75 (3)
6. Pittsburgh (10-4) -5.54 (6)
7. San Diego (7-7) -4.942 (11)
8. Atlanta (9-5) -4.938 (10)
9. Philadelphia (6-8) -4.63 (18)
10. Houston (10-4) -4.62 (4)

11. Seattle (7-7) -3.57 (20)
12. Dallas (8-6) -2.89 (13)
13. NY Jets (8-6) -2.83 (8)
14. Detroit (9-5) -2.67 (9)

15. Miami (5-9) -0.76 (16)

16. Carolina (5-9) 0.35 (22)
17. Cincinnati (8-6) 0.41 (15)
18. NY Giants (7-7) 0.49 (17)
19. Arizona (7-7) 1.06 (21)
20. Chicago (7-7) 1.36 (12)
21. Washington (5-9) 1.77 (26)
22. Tennessee (7-7) 2.31 (14)

23. Denver (8-6) 3.52 (19)

24. Buffalo (5-9) 5.20 (24)
25. Oakland (7-7) 5.80 (25)
26. Cleveland (4-10) 5.94 (28)
27. Jacksonville (4-10) 6.07 (23)
28. Kansas City (6-8) 7.06 (29)
29. Minnesota (2-12) 7.29 (27)

30. Indianapolis (1-13) 10.17 (32)
31. Saint Louis (2-12) 10.37 (31)

32. Tampa Bay (4-10) 11.75 (30)

Seattle was the best team of the weekend, winning their third straight game by a margin of at least 17 points, with this one coming in Chicago against a team they are fighting with for playoff position. They have kept themselves alive in the playoff race, but their final two games will both be tough ones, with division rivals San Francisco and Arizona on the schedule, both with plenty to play for. If they beat the 49ers, the game against the Cardinals could actually give a wild card berth to the winner, if you can believe that.

The other big winner of the weekend was Philadelphia, which stayed alive in the division race with their second straight victory, this one a blowout of the New York Jets, who were hoping to keep themselves alive for their own division title. They can't take a wild card spot, but it's not inconceivable to see them pass the Cowboys and Giants in the final two weeks to steal the division and make people forget about their struggles throughout the season.

San Francisco bounced back from an embarrassing loss to the Arizona Cardinals with a shellacking of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, which kept them in the fight for the second seed in the NFC and a first-round bye. The two power outages didn't seem to faze the Niners, who never trailed Pittsburgh, a team that had a chance to take control of their division race.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

Thursday

Houston at Indianapolis - Texans by 12

Saturday

Arizona at Cincinnati - Bengals by 3
Denver at Buffalo - Bills by 1
Jacksonville at Tennessee - Titans by 7
Oakland at Kansas City - Chiefs by 1
Miami at New England - Patriots by 11
NY Giants vs. NY Jets - Jets by 3
Saint Louis at Pittsburgh - Steelers by 19
Minnesota at Washington - Redskins by 8
Tampa Bay at Carolina - Panthers by 14
Cleveland at Baltimore - Ravens by 14
San Diego at Detroit - Lions by 1
Philadelphia at Dallas - Cowboys by 1
San Francisco at Seattle - 49ers by 3

Sunday

Chicago at Green Bay - Packers by 14

Monday

Atlanta at New Orleans - Saints by 7

Prediction Results

NFL: 9-7 (.563) 145-79 overall (.647)
Upsets: 1-0 (1.000) 22-19 overall (.537)